Today the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)reports 331 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,920,109. This increase represents a 1.1% positivity rate.  As per the National Department of Health, a further 53 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88,987 to date.
18,407,943 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| PRIVATE | 9,920,185 | 54% | 16,007 | 55% |
| PUBLIC | 8,487,758 | 46% | 13,100 | 45% |
| Total | 18,407,943 | 29,107 |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (23%), followed by Free State accounting for 16%. Western Cape accounted for 15%; KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 14%; Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga each accounted for 9% respectively; North West and Northern Cape each accounted for 6% respectively; and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 25 Oct 2021 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 25 Oct 2021 | New cases on 26 Oct 2021 | Total cases for 26 Oct 2021 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 292,197 | 0 | 292,197 | 31 | 292,228 | 10.0 |
| Free State | 163,202 | 0 | 163,202 | 53 | 163,255 | 5.6 |
| Gauteng | 918,996 | 0 | 918,996 | 75 | 919,071 | 31.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 515,271 | 0 | 515,271 | 47 | 515,318 | 17.6 |
| Limpopo | 122,193 | 0 | 122,193 | 7 | 122,200 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 151,809 | 0 | 151,809 | 29 | 151,838 | 5.2 |
| North West | 150,510 | 0 | 150,510 | 20 | 150,530 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 92,283 | 0 | 92,283 | 21 | 92,304 | 3.2 |
| Western Cape | 513,317 | 0 | 513,317 | 48 | 513,365 | 17.6 |
| Unknown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 2,919,778 | 0 | 2,919,778 | 331 | 2,920,109 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The total number of cases today (n=331) is higher than yesterday (n=146) and lower than the average number of cases per day over the 7 preceding days (n=408).
For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 45 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. The following table is a summary of reported COVID-19 admissions by sector.
| Sector | Facilities Reporting | Admissions to Date | Died to Date | Currently Admitted |
| Private | 258 | 200,527 | 37,094 | 2,412 |
| Public | 408 | 233,587 | 56,928 | 1,657 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 434,114 | 94,022 | 4,069 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.
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